ctx-kb-ask - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: ctx-kb-ask description: "Q&A grounded in the existing kb. Read-only on prose; refuses to web-jump; if the kb cannot answer, opens a Q-### row in outstanding-questions.md and reports the gap. Writes an ask closeout for the audit trail."

Answer a question using only what .context/kb/ already contains. Cite by EV-###. Do not web-jump, do not invent prose, do not modify topic pages. If the kb cannot answer, open a Q-### row in .context/kb/outstanding-questions.md and report the gap.

This is the read side of the editorial pipeline. The write side is /ctx-kb-ingest. Authority for prose synthesis lives there; this skill is read-only on prose.

When to Use

The user asks "does the kb say...", "according to evidence...", "what do we know about ".
The user wants a citation-backed answer before deciding whether to ingest more material.

When NOT to Use

The user wants new material extracted (/ctx-kb-ingest).
The user wants the kb structurally audited (/ctx-kb-site-review).
The user wants external re-grounding (/ctx-kb-ground).
The question is about ctx itself (answer from KB-RULES.md directly).

Input

A single question, supplied as the slash argument or inline. No flags, no sources, no URLs.

Refuse-on-Empty

If no question was supplied, return exactly:

no question provided; pass a question or describe it inline.

Stop. The CLI enforces this independently.

Pre-Write Gates

.context/ missing → suggest ctx init and stop.
.context/kb/ missing → suggest ctx init --upgrade and stop.
Kb scope undeclared → refuse with the scope message and stop.

Process

Verify pre-write gates.
Survey the kb in this order, stopping early when an answer surfaces with adequate citation coverage: index.md for scope, topic-page indexes and sub-pages for matching slugs, evidence-index.md, glossary.md, contradictions.md, outstanding-questions.md.
Decide answer vs gap:
- Answerable with citations: cite every load-bearing claim by EV-###. Name the topic page(s). Note the confidence floor of cited rows.
- Partial answer: answer the covered part; open a Q-### row for the gap.
- Not answerable: open a Q-### row; report the gap. Do not invent. Do not web-jump.
If a gap exists, append a Q-### row to outstanding-questions.md. Do NOT mint EV-### rows; evidence authoring is /ctx-kb-ingest's authority.
Write the ask closeout under .context/ingest/closeouts/<TS>-ask-closeout.md with required frontmatter (sha, branch, mode: ask, pass-mode: read-only, life-stage, generated-at) and body sections: Question, Answer (or none (gap)), Citations (EV-### + topic-page paths), Gaps (Q-### opened with one-line rationale), Next pass hint.

Anti-Patterns

Web-jumping when the kb cannot answer. The contract is read-only on prose AND web-quiet.
Inventing citations or claims.
Modifying a topic page to extend an answer mid-pass.
Minting EV-### rows from this skill.
Skipping the Q-### row when the kb cannot answer.
Skipping the closeout once pre-write gates pass.

Output Contract

For pre-write refusals, return only the refusal text and stop.

For passes that clear pre-write gates, end with:

Question: verbatim or faithful paraphrase.
Answer: concise; cites every load-bearing claim by EV-###.
Confidence floor: lowest band among cited rows.
Gaps: Q-### opened, or none.
Closeout: filename.
Next-recommended-action: explicit invocation if a gap was opened (/ctx-kb-ground or /ctx-kb-ingest <sources>), or none.